Tuesday, September 30, 2008

soundtrack..."musical" edition

i stage managed many musicals through college and out in the "real" theatre world...they are my favorite type of theatre to watch, and to work on...

my favorite professor, who directed many of the musicals i worked on, would say that musicals are even better than "straight" theatre (non-musical), or even real life, because in a musical, when just speaking your mind or your emotions no longer can express the depths of what you're feeling, and just walking around the stage is not enough...you have to fucking dance...and you have to fucking sing...

i completely agree.

it's so powerful that it just BURSTS out of you in a song. there are few things that i would compare to the rush of belting (badly) a really powerful musical number, written to be raw with emotion. i wish real life could be a musical...

here is a list of some of my favorite songs from musicals. songs that, for me, burst out of me when what i'm feeling cannot be expressed without musical accompianment...

1. gimme gimme...thoroughly modern millie2. i'll cover you (reprise)...rent3. you should be loved...side show4. new music...ragtime5. sarah brown eyes...ragtime6. i never wanted to love you...march of the falsettos7. holding to the ground...falsettoland8. what would i do?...falsettoland9. not while i'm around...sweeney todd10. climbing uphill...the last five years11. stars and the moon...songs for a new world12. any time...elegies13. i'd give it all for you...songs for a new world14. hitchhiking across america...infinnite joy15. i can do better than that...the last five years16. still hurting...the last five years17. defying gravity...wicked18. you can't stop the beat...hairspray19. i'd rather be sailing...infinnite joy20. without love...hairspray21. make them hear you...ragtime22. set those sails...infinnite joy

the albums/recordings listed here are my favorite versions of the songs. some of them come from original musicals, but were re-done in revues of the composer (in the case of William Finn's music that i have listed)...